Multiple Hurt as Turbulence Strikes A Delta Airlines Flight into Sydney

Multiple passengers and crew have been injured following a Delta flight traveling from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia experienced rough air Friday morning.

Flight DL41 "experienced a brief period of turbulence" as it landed at the Sydney airport, a company official stated. A number of the onboard staff sustained injuries.

Local paramedics reported they evaluated a total of five people, and took three to the hospital with minor injuries that included back pain and headaches. The patients' ages were between their 30s to 70s.

It is the newest example of commercial jets encountering atmospheric disturbance, with aviation specialists saying that climate change is a major factor.

The aircraft was carrying 245 passengers and fifteen staff members on the wide-body jet, the Delta spokesperson added, clarifying that the plane touched down "safely and normally" at Sydney Airport at 06:48 local time on Friday morning.

Paramedics said they received a call just three minutes before the plane arrived, and response teams were waiting on the tarmac.

The reasons turbulence is becoming more frequent - and more severe.

In the previous year, twenty-five passengers and crew were hurt when another Delta jet, on a route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Amsterdam, hit "significant" turbulence just 120 minutes into the lengthy trip, and had to make an unscheduled landing.

Earlier this year, travelers and staff on a Singapore Airlines flight went through a terrifying five seconds period of extreme instability. One passenger lost their life and dozens were injured, as unbelted passengers were thrown from their seats and crashed back down.

Turbulence is a common occurrence during flights, and while instances of rough conditions are reportedly becoming more frequent, they are statistically infrequent.

Estimates show that there are around 5,000 incidents of severe or worse turbulence each year, out of a total of in excess of 35 million flights that currently occur globally.

Severe turbulence is categorized as when the sudden jolts of a aircraft going through disturbed air apply greater than 1.5g-force on your body - a strong enough force to propel you from your seat if you weren't wearing a restraint.

As global warming shifts atmospheric conditions, specialists caution that flying could become more turbulent: warming trends and changing jet streams in the upper atmosphere are expected to boost the frequency and intensity of dangerous in-flight bumps.